The meaning behind the word
by jremme
Summary: Just a fluffy one shot about Bones and Booth playing a board game. Did I mention it's fluffy? I did? Ok, good.


**A/N: I was hit with the inspiration for a fluffy little one-shot, so here is the end product of that. Just thought I'd throw it out there! Enjoy!!**

**The meaning behind the word**

Brennan and Booth sat next to one another across from Dr. Sweets. No one was saying anything. Booth looked over at her. She looked content, comfortable with the silence. She looked beautiful, as always. He shook the thought, before Sweets could read anything from the look on his face. That was the last thing he needed. Sweets would have a field day if he knew his feelings for his partner.

Finally, Booth broke the silence, unable to stand it any longer.

"C'mon Sweets, let's get started! You're killin' me here."

"I was just thinking about our ceramics class Agent Booth."

"What about it? It certainly didn't end well for you."

Brennan shot him a glare, and he glanced back at Sweets guiltily. "Sorry about that, Sweets."

"Not a problem. I was thinking about how, with regards to the two of you, it was a success. And because of that, I don't see the need to accompany you on any more social activities."

"Thank God for that." Booth looked relieved.

"However, I don't want the social activities to stop. I want you two to engage in another activity without my supervision, and then report back to me."

"What do you mean, like we get to into the deep end of the pool without those floaty wings?"

"Exactly, Agent Booth. I'm cutting you loose."

"Thanks, Dad." Booth rolled his eyes. "So where are Bones and I going this time? A quilting bee?"

"No, actually, I want you two to meet at one of your homes, doesn't matter which, and play a board game."

His statement was followed by silence.

"Excuse me, what?" Booth wasn't sure he'd heard him correctly.

"I want you to play a board game and next time we meet, we'll go over how it went. Is that agreeable Dr. Brennan?"

Brennan thought a moment and nodded. "Yes, that'll be fine."

"Agent Booth?"

"Come on Sweets!"

"Would you rather attend the quilting bee you mentioned earlier?"

"Board game sounds good."

"I thought so. I'll see you two next time."

Once they were outside the office, Brennan asked, "So, where do you want to go to play?"

"I don't care…my place."

"Ok, let's go."

"What, now?"

"Sure. I have time now. I don't know how the rest of the week's going to go."

They arrived at Booth's and he led her to a closet. He opened the door and glanced up at the shelf.

"Let's see…I got Chutes and Ladders, Candyland, and Bob the Builder Memory."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

"Those are all children's games, Booth. They're not mentally stimulating for the adult mind."

"Well, I have a child, so I have children's games. Now, what's it gonna be?"

"I'm inclined to choose Memory, but I believe I have a better idea. We're playing at my place."

And with that, she headed out the door, Booth following behind.

"No way, Bones!"

Brennan held up the box as they stood at her kitchen table. "It's the only board game I have. And it's an adult game. So it's what we're going to play."

"I'll lose."

"So? Besides, would you really want to tell Sweets that we played Candyland?"

Booth grumbled something, but sat down in defeat, and Brennan opened up the Scrabble game board and spread out the letters on the table.

"Here, I have an old Scrabble dictionary you can use." She got up, took the book off its shelf, and placed it on the table.

"I'm not using that."

"Why not? It could help you."

"I have my pride."

"Suit yourself. Pick your letters."

They picked out their letters, and Brennan went first, placing her word across the center of the board.

C-O-N-D-Y-L-E

"Let's see, that's 13 points, plus double word, that's 26, plus 50 for using all my letters, is 76 points!"

"What?! You get 50 points for using all your letters? No way!"

"It's in the rules." She passed him the rules, picking out her new letters.

He skimmed through them, noting that she was right.

"You take one turn, and my fate is sealed."

"Stop being so melodramatic. It's your turn."

Booth moved his letters around for awhile, thinking. Then he picked up 3 tiles and made his word, connecting it to the L in hers.

B-A-L-L

"6," he said dryly, as Brennan penciled his score onto the piece of paper she'd placed next to the game board. He picked new letters and she took her turn, connecting them to the O.

O-N-T-I-C

"There, only 7 points." She penciled it in as Booth peered at the word.

"Hate to tell you this, Bones, but that isn't a word."

"Yes, it is. It means real or factual existence. It's in the dictionary. Look it up."

He did so, and again, she was right. She took new letters and Booth took his turn.

He played off the A in ball, and looked quite proud of himself as he placed the letters.

R-A-I-N-S

"Only 5 points, but I still used a lot of letters." He was grinning from ear to ear.

Brennan nodded and returned the grin. "That's very true."

She eyed the board, and took her turn, playing off the T in ontic.

T-A-X

"What, no long word that I don't know the meaning of?" Booth looked slightly confused and then he saw why she'd played that word.

"That's 10 points, and triple word score makes it 30." She penciled it in and picked her letters, waiting for him to take his turn.

"I'm almost afraid to ask, but what's the score?"

She looked at the paper. "113 for me, 11 for you."

"Fantastic. Let's see here…" he fiddled around with his letters, deep in concentration. She watched him as his eyebrow shot up and he seemed to thinking about something; a possible letter combination, she assumed.

Finally, he moved the letters to the board, playing from the S in rains.

K-I-S-S-blank tile.

Brennan frowned at the word. "What does the blank tile represent?"

"A question mark, actually."

Brennan shook her head. "No, you can't use punctuation marks in this game. But despite that, the K is on a double letter space, so you have 13 points. That's pretty good."

She penciled it in, and then her mind back pedaled. He had said the blank was supposed to mean a question mark, so the word would be K-I-S-S?

Her eyes went wide for a split second as the meaning behind the word hit home. She bit her lip and glanced at her letters, preparing to take her turn. She didn't have to answer him, after all. She could just go on playing the game, pretending like it had no meaning whatsoever. Even as she told herself this, she knew she couldn't do that.

She concentrated on her letters.

N, T, E, D, O, S, P.

Suddenly she couldn't think. She moved the letters around, trying to make words out of them.

N-O. There was a word. She couldn't play it off anything though. It hit her then, that even if she could play it, she didn't want to. Surprised by the revelation, she shifted her letters around some more, then snaked her hand over the place where she'd had the letters spread out for them to pick after they took their turn.

"Whoa, Bones, that's cheating. I don't think Sweets would approve." He moved his hand over hers. She gave him a look, laden with what she hoped was meaning.

"I need another letter," she explained, almost forcefully. He let up on her hand, and she proceeded to peek under letters until she found the one she was looking for.

Taking a deep breath, she picked up the letters she needed and put them in place, playing off the first S in kiss.

Y-E-S

"Haha, Bones! That's only…" He trailed off as he stared at the word on the board. Brennan smiled, beginning to anticipate what she knew was coming. Booth looked up at her, then back down at the board.

"Hey, wait a minute. You can't play that at all! It connects right here, too." He pointed to the I in rains which was now above the Y in yes, making the non-word I-Y.

"Booth…"

"You can't do it, Bones. Sorry."

"Booth, look at the word again." He did.

"Oh."

"Yea, oh," she said, rolling her eyes at him. He leaned over the table, cupping her cheek with his hand, and the next thing she knew, her eyes had closed and she felt his lips, soft and sweet, on her own.

The following week they met in Dr. Sweets' office.

"So, what did you two play?" Sweets leaned forward, interested.

"We played Scrabble," Brennan responded.

"Really? And how did it go? Who won?"

Brennan opened her mouth to answer that she had won, but Booth beat her to it.

"We both did." He glanced briefly at her, his eyes giving her the grin he didn't want Sweets to see.

"A tie? That's odd, but good in this case. There are times when one person doesn't always necessarily have to come out on top. This was good for you both. You learned that you can hold a friendly competition and have it come out a draw. Good for you!" Sweets was pleased with the outcome.

"In fact, I might need to plan something else for you two to do together. This is turning out to be a very fruitful exercise."

Booth nodded. "I'm with you there, Sweets. I'm with you there."

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed that bit of fluff!! Responses are always more than welcome. I'll try to get on the ball and respond. I haven't been doing a good job of that lately. Thank you!!**


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